Docan be an auxiliary verb
(Doyou like coffee?) or a
main verb (Ididmy homework yesterday.). As an auxiliary verb,
it has no meaning. It is necessary only for the grammatical structure. As a
main verb it has a meaning, but the meaning is rather general. It often
expresses a general activity.

Makeis not an auxiliary
verb. It is always a main verb (Imadea cake yesterday.). Its
meaning is also rather general, but it often expresses the idea of construction
or creation.

In
this lesson we look at some guidelines that may help you, followed by a quiz to
check your understanding:

Unlike Or Dislike?

The wordsunlikeanddislikeare opposites of the wordlike.
But to understand the difference betweenunlikeanddislike, we need to
understand the difference between"like"as aprepositionand"like"as averb.

Like - Unlike (preposition)

As a preposition,likemeans "similar to" or
"nearly the same as". Look at these examples:

John
was wearing a shirtlikemine.

He
lookedlikea ghost.

For the opposite of the prepositionlike,
we useunlike, which means
"not like" or "not similar to":

John
is unlike Peter, even though they are twins.

I
was surprised by John's behaviour. It is unlike him to be rude.

Note thatlike,unlikeanddislikecan all be used, less frequently, as
parts of speech other than those shown here. On this page we discuss only the
parts of speech that relate to the confusion between these words.

Like - Dislike | Unlike (verb)

For the usual opposite of the verblike,
we usedislike, which means
"to not like" or "to find (something)
unpleasant/disagreeable":

Robertdislikesbeing called "Robbie".

Idislikedher from the moment we met.

+

love

like

(no feeling)

dislike

hate

-

The wordunlikeas a verb was very rare until an
American website called Facebook.com used it to "undo" or "turn
off" their Like button. In this sense, youstopliking something (or someone) after
youstartliking it. Note thatto
unlikeis not the
same as toto dislike. If you
"dislike" something, you have a negative feeling about it. But to
"unlike" something means simply to stop liking it. You may or may not
now also dislike it.

Remember, though, that in the real worldunlikeas a verb is rare today, and its use
is confined mainly to social networking.

The verbunlike(meaning "to stop liking")
has been used -- albeit rarely -- for centuries, and can be seen in this
quotation from the 18th-century classicMemoirs of Miss Sidney Bidulph by
Frances Sheridan: "What can I do? My heart is not in a disposition to
love...I cannot compel it to like, andunlike, and like
anew at pleasure."

Lie Or Lay?

The verbslieandlayconfuse people because:

their
meanings can be similar

one
of the verbs (lie)
has two completely different meanings

they
vary between regular and irregular according to sense

they
vary between transitive and intransitive according to sense

the
present tense oflayis the past tense of the
irregularlie

The following table summarizes these similarities and differences:

to lie

to lie

to lay

basic meaning

to tell a lie, an untruth

to recline; to be in or to take a
horizontal/resting position

to put something down in a horizontal
position

regular?

regular
lie, lied, lied

irregular
lie, lay, lain

irregular
lie, laid, laid

transitive? direct object?

intransitive
(no direct object)

intransitive
(no direct object)

transitive
(must have direct object)

3rd person s

lies

lies

lays

present participle

lying

lying

laying

past tense

lied

lay

laid

past participle

lied

lain

laid

Lie (regular, intransitive)

The first one above is easy. In the sense "to tell a lie, say
something that is not true",lieis a regular verb and has no direct
object. The past tense is always -ed. Look at these examples:

Some
peoplelieabout their age.

Johnliesabout everything.

"I'm
forty-nine," helied.

We
have alllieda few times in our lives.

That's
not true! You'relying!

Lie (irregular, intransitive)

Now we come to the irregularlie, meaning "to be in, or to take, a
horizontal/resting position". This is what we do on a bed,
for example. We lie on our bed when we sleep.

The important thing to remember withlieis that it isintransitive,
so there isno direct object.
Look at this examples. You see there is no direct object.

Something

lies

(somewhere).

Subject

verb

My dog

lies

on this mat.

Mary

is lying

on the sofa.

You also need to remember that thepast
tenseof thislieis "lay", which is the same
as the present tense ofto lay. Look at this
table of conjugation:

present

past

present perfect

I

lie

lay*

have lain

you

lie

lay*

have lain

he, she, it

lies

lay

has lain

we

lie

lay*

have lain

you

lie

lay*

have lain

they

lie

lay*

have lain

*This is the same as the
present tense ofto lay.

Look at these example sentences:

I
feel sick. I wantto lieon the bed.

Usually
Ilieon the sofa and watch TV.

My
dog alwayslieson this mat.

He
loves this mat. Yesterday, helayhere all day.

She
haslainin bed since she got ill.

After
the aircrash, wreckage waslyingall over the place.

Typical mistake

I
alwayslayon a bench to do this exercise.
(should belie)

Lieis something that we do to
ourselves.Layis something that we do to other
people or things.

Ilieon
the sofawhen I'm tired.

Marylaysthe
babyin its cribwhen it cries.

Lay (irregular, transitive)

The main meaning of the verblayis "to put (something) down in a
horizontal position".

The important thing to remember withlayis that it istransitive,
so it MUST have adirect object. You
cannot just lay. You have to laysomething. Look at
these examples. You see they all have direct objects.

Something

lays

something

(somewhere).

Subject

verb

direct object

Chickens

lay

eggs.

Our chickens

lay

their eggs

on the ground.

The nurses

laid

the wounded man

on the bed.

Here is a table of conjugation:

present

past

present perfect

I

lay

laid

have laid

you

lay

laid

have laid

he, she, it

lays

laid

have laid

we

lay

laid

have laid

you

lay

laid

have laid

they

lay

laid

have laid

Here are some example sentences:

The
policeman told himto layhis gun on the ground.

The
police usuallylaya sheet over dead bodies.

This
chickenlaysthree eggs every day.

He
opened the books andlaidthem on the desk.

I
havelaidthe carpet. You can walk on it
now.

The
phone rang just as she waslayingthe new clothes on the bed.

The verbslieandlaycan have other meanings too. Only the
most common are shown here. There are also severalphrasal verbs made withlieandlay. They follow the same basic rules as shown on this page.

Raise Or Rise?

The verbsraiseandriseboth refer to something going
"up". The main difference between them is thatraiseis transitive (it must have a direct
object) andriseis intransitive (no direct object).

Somethingraisessomething.

Somethingrises.

We also note that:

raiseis regular:
raise, raised, raised

riseis irregular:
rise, rose, risen

Raise (regular, transitive)

If youraisesomething, it means that you elevate
it - you move it up or lift it to a higher level.

The
government plansto raisethe age of retirement from 65 to
67.

If
you have a question, pleaseraiseyour hand.

Maryraisesher voice when she's angry.

Heraisedhis eyebrows, as if surprised.

They
haveraisedtheir prices every year since
they were founded.

The
king's men wereraisingthe drawbridge when it collapsed.

On this page we discuss the meanings ofraiseandrisethat mainly cause confusion. Both of
these verbs have additional meanings that we do not discuss here.

Rise (irregular, intransitive)

If somethingrises, it means that it
elevates itself - it goes up itself. No external force is needed to lift it.
But note that there is not always a physical movement; sometimes the meaning is
just "to increase".

I
liketo riseat 6am, but my husband stays in
bed until 8am.

If
it doesn't stop raining, the river willriseand overflow.

Hot
airrises.

Johnrosefrom his chair when Mary walked
in.

Jane
hasrisenin her company very quickly and
is now CEO.

Prices
arerisingall the time.

To help you compare the meanings, here are some examples withraiseandrisein the same sentence:

Weraisethe flag when the sunrises, and we lower it when the
sun goes down.

island or Iceland
or Ireland?

The wordsisland,IcelandandIrelandare confusing because they sound
similar and their spellings are similar. In fact, they have completely
different meanings. To understand the differences, we have to think about the
difference between common nouns andproper
nouns.

island

Anislandis a piece of land completely
surrounded by water. An island can be very small or very big. An island can be
in a lake or in a river or in the sea. If it is land with water all around it,
it is an island.

The "s" in "island" is silent. The word
"island" is pronounced/aɪˈlənd/, with stress on first syllable.

Notice thatislandbegins with a small letter, butIcelandandIrelandbegin with a capital letter. They
begin with a capital letter because they arenames.

Iceland

The wordIcelandis thenameof a country (sometimes calledRepublic of Iceland).
However, the country of Iceland
is also an island, because it is surrounded by water (the North
Atlantic Ocean).

Note too that "Iceland" begins with a capital
"I" because it is a name.

The word "Iceland"
is pronounced/aɪsˈlənd/, with stress on first syllable.

Ireland

Irelandis thenameof an island to the west of Great Britain. The island of Ireland contains two political units:

Republic of Ireland(also calledEire), which is a country covering
about 80% of the island
of Ireland.

Northern
Ireland, which covers about 20% of the island of Ireland
and is politically part of the United Kingdom.

Note too that "Ireland" begins with a capital
"I" because it is a name.

The word "Ireland"
is pronounced/aɪərˈlənd/, with stress on first syllable.

The following table summarizes the relevant points about these
three words: